This invention relates to safety helmets and especially to a helmet having air bag cushioning with a shock absorbing face guard for greater head protection for athletes, cyclists, and the like.
It has been shown that persons involved in high speed activities such as motor cross racing, riding motorcycles and bicycles, automobiles and the like can substantially reduce the severity of head injuries in an accident by the use of protective helmets. In the past, many athletes and those in hazardous activities wear some type of head protection. The helmet provides protection to the head of the wearer by dissipating the energy of an impact to the head of the wearer. To obtain better protection, the energy of an impact to the helmet must be dissipated by dispersing the energy in the helmet over as wide an area as possible while preventing a concentrated impact to the head. It is therefore desirable to redistribute the energy from a single concentrated point of impact on the outside of the helmet to a broader area throughout the entire outer and inner area of the helmet and helmet liner while at the same time cushioning the head and preventing concentrated impact thereto.
Currently, most helmets have an outside very hard plastic shell and are lined with a protective liner, such as a one and a half inch lining of rigid polyurethane foam. This allows a great deal of the impact to the helmet to be applied to a small portion of the wearer's head with only limited distribution of total energy of impact. In addition a hard blow against a helmet's face mask or face guard produces a jarring of the wearer's head which can also drive the wearer's helmet and head and damage a person's face or neck.
The present invention is directed toward a new helmet and face guard combination which supports the wearer's head with an air bag like protection while distributing the energy of an impact over a wider area of the helmet and which also cushions a blow to the face guard to reduce the force applied to the head and neck. A multiple air bag protection design provides an air bag with one or more flexible enclosures. In air bags with multiple enclosure layers, the first layer cushions against smaller forces of impact while a second enclosure layer cushions against a greater impact force than the first enclosure layer and a third layer can provide added protection over the first and second enclosure layers against even greater forces of impact. The transfer of energy is allowed to both dissipate and be redirected away from the wearer's head and brain.